Poll: Most want Armstrong punished

Sixty-four percent of likely American voters want Armstrong prosecuted for having lied under oath about doping for years, and only 16 percent forgive him according to a Harper Polling poll out Friday. Twenty percent said they aren’t sure.

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Republicans are slightly less forgiving than Democrats, with 70 percent of Republicans wanting Armstrong to face legal consequences — 8 percentage points more than the 62 percent of Democrats who want the same.

Bottom line: the public didn’t buy Armstrong’s interview with Oprah Winfrey last week on the OWN Network.

“The poll clearly demonstrates that Armstrong is not garnering the sympathy that a visit to Oprah’s couch would normally produce,” pollster Brock McCleary told POLITICO.

There has been widespread speculation that the Department of Justice is considering joining a lawsuit against Armstrong that would accuse him of defrauding the government. The U.S. Postal Service was a longtime sponsor of Armstrong.

Though the statute of limitation might have expired on perjury charges, he could face lawsuits looking to get back the millions of dollars in prize money he acquired during the years of his then-perceived to be legendary cycling career.

Following a damning report for the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency in October, he was stripped of seven Tour de France titles. Armstrong — once considered one of the most high-profile cancer advocates in the country — was also ousted as the head of Livestrong, the cancer charity he founded that advocated on behalf of those impacted by cancer to the medical community as well as politicians in Washington.

For years, Armstrong had vigorously attacked those who accused him of doping, filing lawsuits against some and viciously speaking out against others. Last week to Winfrey, he came clean in an interview critics said was devoid of any real emotion.

Harper Polling polled 1,900 likely voters on behalf of Conservative Intel on Jan. 22 and it has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.25 percentage points.